"Ya, I'd like to spend a month on a mountain sometime... It'd be a good experience" I stated these exact words only a few months before we stepped off of the Beaver onto the SE Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier, in the Alaska Range.

The three of us chucked our gear into the slurpee-like snow and watched our plane take-off, making a huge arc in front of Mt. Foraker en-route home. We were amongst mountains I'd always dreamed of seeing. As I bent to grab a handful of gear I think it dawned on me for the first time what we were getting ourselves into. "Shit man, that's a big mountain". Kees didn't give me much of a reply save for a smile an some refrains from some country song he had rattling around in his head. Hmm... so I'm going climbing with a country fan? I wonder how many songs he knows? (ed: lots!)